Outlander: MP3 Edition

I spent the summer after my freshman year in college back home in Tulsa. I was going through that ugly phase where I thought I was all grown up, but I wasn't, and I had to live at home, with my parents. Oh, the injustice! I was also doing the Atkins Diet which I don't suggest if you want your friends and family to love you. My brain needs carbs, people!

The bright spot of that summer was taking walks most evenings with my friend Ally (also home from college) and my mom. We'd chat and walk and just have a grand time. Mom suggested we read the book, Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon to help us through the summer. So Ally, Mom and I all read it (and the followups, that aren't nearly as good) and discussed it on our walks. We had such a blast chatting about Jamie and Claire out there in the Scottish Highlands.

A few years later Ally and I were able to take a backpack tour through the Highlands. One of the stops on our trip was the battlefield at Culloden. We shed a few tears thinking of Jamie and the stubborn Scots fighting the British to the death out there on that field. We do know Jamie and his pals weren't really there fighting for their freedom, but there were thousands of real-life Scots who had done just that. It was a truly touching scene.

I've read and re-read Outlander a few times since that summer at home. I'm enjoying it again now only I'm not reading. I'm listening to it on my iPod in my car and at the gym. It's so fun to hear those amazing stories told in Scottish and English accents! I'm just loving it. And it makes my runs so much fun. And I have 32 hours of Jamie and Claire just waiting for me every time I get in the car!